"We currently have only a partial view of the importance of each individual's DNA sequence, as if looking through a picket fence, but it is already apparent that this type of information will improve the way we prevent, diagnose and treat many diseases."

Personalized Medicine: Our differences make a difference

Every year more than 100,000 hospitalized patients in the United States die from "adverse drug events." Watch this video (3:22), with an introduction from Jeffrey R. Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, to learn about how Vanderbilt researchers are making breakthroughs in genomics and bioinformatics that will allow doctors to "tailor" certain treatments to individual patients - to give them what they need, what will work, without causing side effects.